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Syracuse University SURFACE Theses - ALL December 2019 Precarity Beyond Food: How the Closure of an Independent Grocery Store Shed Light on the Limitations of Food Access Efforts in Syracuse, New York Katherine Louisa Ravene Mott Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/thesis Part of the Medicine and Health Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Mott, Katherine Louisa Ravene, "Precarity Beyond Food: How the Closure of an Independent Grocery Store Shed Light on the Limitations of Food Access Efforts in Syracuse, New York" (2019). Theses - ALL. 379. https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/379 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses - ALL by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT On September 11, 2017, the owner of an independent grocery store in Syracuse, New York’s Near Westside neighborhood announced that the store would close within the month. The Near Westside is often characterized by its high levels of concentrated poverty for African American and Hispanic neighborhood residents. Nojaim Brothers Supermarket opened in 1919 and persisted for 97 years amidst an unfavorable political and economic landscape marked by the creation of both chain grocery stores and supermarkets as well as the effects of urban renewal and disinvestment. I argue that Nojaim’s endurance can be attributed to the embeddedness of the grocery store. In the last two decades, supermarkets and large corporations have normalized food desert logic as the dominant way of understanding food access, so much so that a Syracuse nonprofit used the food desert concept to successfully garner both resident and public support for a grocery store in a neighborhood that had been void of physical food access for decades. The public support is exemplary of the limited ways in which local scholars, practitioners, and politicians are (or aren’t) thinking about food access in relation to poverty. Through an eight- month ethnography at a soup kitchen in the Near Westside, I show that while food access may not be residents’ most pressing challenge, there is space for scholars, practitioners, and politicians to engage in food justice, making the connections between inadequate housing, lack of employment, substandard healthcare, and food. PRECARITY BEYOND FOOD: HOW THE CLOSURE OF AN INDEPENDENT GROCERY STORE SHED LIGHT ON THE LIMITATIONS OF FOOD ACCESS EFFORTS IN SYRACUSE, NEW YORK by Katherine Louisa Ravene Mott B.S., SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, 2015 Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Food Studies Syracuse University December 2019 Copyright © Katherine Mott 2019 All Rights Reserved IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The people who deserve the greatest acknowledge for the completion of this work will likely never see the pages that follow. I spent eight months with Near Westside soup kitchen “regulars” who welcomed me with open arms and forgave me for my often-privileged assumptions. Two women in particular let down their walls, invited me into their homes, and taught me lessons I’ll keep at the forefront of my mind for many, many years to come. I owe a huge thank you to Paul Nojaim, in particular, for his continued patience and vulnerability each time I came running back for more insight on such a deeply personal matter. My interest in food studies first developed from undergraduate coursework with Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern and quickly blossomed when working with the inspiring folks at Food First who took a chance on a young engineering student. Eric Holt-Giménez, Marilyn Borchardt, Leonor Hurtado, and Rowena Garcia warmly welcomed me into the family of food justice activists and are at the heart of my choice to pursue graduate work. My thesis committee welcomed my many knocks on each of their doors. Evan Weissman’s unwavering support and advocacy helped me see the end of the graduate school tunnel time and time again. He has become more than an advisor, but a mentor, ally, and dear friend. Gretchen Purser’s genuine appreciation of the innerworkings of my brain has helped grow my confidence in a world seemingly unfamiliar to me. Rick Welsh’s sarcasm softened the blow of his sometimes blunt, yet always valuable insight. He managed to keep me laughing through it all. My cohort turned great friends turned roommates, Cheyenne Schoën and Maegan Krajewski, kept me afloat. They stood by my side at each step of the research process, acting as sounding boards and cheering me on with ice cream, donuts, and motivational cheesecakes (after all, this is a food studies program). I am both grateful and inspired to have been in the presence of two scholars so compassionate and intelligent as them. Thank you both for helping me figure this whole “thesis” thing out. I could not have asked for better people to endure the highs and lows of graduate school with. From a young age, my parents made it a priority to teach me how to care about people. My dad taught me the importance of seeing past the surface and my mom taught me to help where and when I can. I hope that I am doing right by both of you. My wonderfully goofy cat, Marlowe, kept me company through the long nights and laid down on my keyboard when she knew it was time for me to get some rest. Brian Hennigan has been a pleasant surprise and a breath of fresh air. His constant willingness to talk through ideas and provide feedback has helped me become a better scholar, thinker, and writer. His love and support are unmatched. If there is one thing I have learned while writing this thesis, as cliché as it sounds, it is that there is no such thing as good timing. Through these past two and a half years, I experienced grief, trauma and loss on several occasions. I owe endless thanks to my friends who have been with me for so long now, sitting with me in the foggy darkness and celebrating with me once it passes. Teagan Dolan, Zack Boerman, and Jack Ganley, I love you all so very much. V TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... IV ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIALS .................................................................................................. VI I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 II. METHODS ............................................................................................................................... 14 III. THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NOJAIM’S ..................................................................... 27 IV. THE EMBEDDEDNESS OF NOJAIM’S ............................................................................. 46 V. THE PRICE IS RIGHT, BUT FOR WHOM? .......................................................................... 69 VI. CONNECTING THE DOTS: THE STATE OF FOOD JUSTICE IN SYRACUSE .............. 93 VII. THE REPRODUCTIVE LABOR OF POVERTY .............................................................. 112 VIII. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 136 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 141 CURRICULUM VITAE ............................................................................................................. 160 VI ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIALS TABLE 1. POVERTY, EDUCATION, HOME OWNERSHIP, AND INCOME AT NEIGHBORHOOD, CITY, AND NATIONAL LEVELS. .............................................................................................................................. 8 TABLE 2. SYRACUSE NEIGHBORHOOD REDLINING DESCRIPTIONS WITH PRESENT-DAY SELECTED DEMOGRAPHICS. ............................................................................................................................................ 36 TABLE 3. BREAKDOWN OF PUBLIC FUNDING FOR SOUTHSIDE PRICERITE ............................................ 73 FIGURE 1. DISCREPANCIES IN WAGES IN SYRACUSE, NY. ............................................................................. 5 FIGURE 2. PROJECTED ANNUAL INCOMES FOR CHILDREN RAISED IN SYRACUSE, NY. ........................ 6 FIGURE 3. SYRACUSE, NY CENSUS TRACTS WITH CONCENTRATED POVERTY.. ..................................... 7 FIGURE 4. NOJAIM'S IN THE LATTER HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY. ........................................................ 31 FIGURE 5. 1937 MAP OF REDLINED AREAS IN THE CITY OF SYRACUSE. .................................................. 35 FIGURE 6. PLANS FOR WEST ST. EXPANSION. .................................................................................................. 39 FIGURE 7. DECLINE IN FOOD STORES LOCATED WITHIN THE CITY FROM 1958 TO 2019. .................... 40 FIGURE 8. TRADE CLASSES WITHIN STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION. ................................. 42 FIGURE 9. TRADE CLASSES WITHIN NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM. ...... 43 FIGURE 10. PRACTITIONER EFFORTS IN THE NEAR WESTSIDE. .................................................................. 56 FIGURE 11. NOJAIM’S PRODUCTS WITH NUVAL SCORES. ............................................................................ 59 FIGURE

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